(Peshawar) A truce was broken Friday evening after a week of fighting between Shiite and Sunni tribes in Pakistan left 37 dead, officials announced.
“A ceasefire was achieved with the help of authorities, police and local dignitaries,” said Mohammed Ali Saif, government spokesperson in the mountainous province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (northwest).
Fighting with heavy weapons, including mortar shells, took place in the Kourram district of this province where tribal codes of honor are very strong and where security forces are struggling to maintain order.
On Saturday, the conflict over land resumed between the Shiites of the Balishkhel region and the Sunnis of the Para Chamkani region – after leaving 35 dead in several days of fighting at the end of July.
“And what started as a dispute over land turned into an open war between Shiites and Sunnis, with guns and mortar shells,” said a local official on condition of anonymity.
Since Saturday, “37 people have been killed: 21 Shiites and 16 Sunnis, and 153 people have been injured,” he continued.
A security force official based in Peshawar, capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, added that “28 houses were damaged” by the fighting which affected “ten localities”.
Already in July, the government and local leaders had interrupted clashes with jirgas (tribal councils), without resolving the land issue.
In Pakistan, a Muslim country with a Sunni majority, Shiites have long claimed to be victims of discrimination and violence.